Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was speaking at the University of Wales in Swansea on Wednesday. He spoke about the breakdown in family life, increased divorce rates, and "peripheral" sexual relationships [all of which] were "in danger of inflicting very real and long-lasting damage on our society".

He went on to speak out against a growing sense that there was a right to a "risk-free" existence. He said aversion to risk sometimes led to doctors, teachers and social workers living in "in constant fear" of accusations of malpractice and litigation. "Everything which goes wrong has to be someone else's fault, heads must roll, compensation must be paid," he said. "But there is an even greater danger that we end up running away from reality and that we lose our freedom and our courage in the process."

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Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was speaking at the University of Wales in Swansea on Wednesday. He spoke about the breakdown in family life, increased divorce rates, and "peripheral" sexual relationships [all of which] were "in danger of inflicting very real and long-lasting damage on our society".

He went on to speak out against a growing sense that there was a right to a "risk-free" existence. He said aversion to risk sometimes led to doctors, teachers and social workers living in "in constant fear" of accusations of malpractice and litigation. "Everything which goes wrong has to be someone else's fault, heads must roll, compensation must be paid," he said. "But there is an even greater danger that we end up running away from reality and that we lose our freedom and our courage in the process."